TV3 (New Zealand)

Three
Current Three logo, introduced in 2017.
Launched	26 November 1989
Owned by	MediaWorks New Zealand
Picture format	1080i (HDTV)
Country	New Zealand
Broadcast area	National
Formerly called	TV3
Sister channel(s)	Bravo, The Edge TV
Timeshift service	ThreePlus1
Website	www.threenow.co.nz
Availability
Terrestrial
DVB 64-QAM on band IV
Satellite
DVB QPSK 576i on 12644/12456 MHz
DVB 8PSK (encrypted) on 12358 MHz
Cable
DVB QAM

Three (stylized as +HR=E) is a New Zealand nationwide television channel. Launched on 26 November 1989 as TV3, it was New Zealand's first privately owned television channel. The channel currently broadcasts nationally (with regional advertising targeting four markets) in digital free-to-air form via the state-owned Kordia on terrestrial and satellite. Vodafone also carries the channel for their cable subscribers in Wellington and Christchurch. It previously broadcast nationally on analogue television until that was switched off on 1 December 2013.

Three is general entertainment channel owned by MediaWorks New Zealand with a significant news and current affairs element under the banner of Newshub. About 50% of Three's programming is local, most of which airs at prime-time.

Applications to apply for a warrant to operate New Zealand's third national television network opened in 1985. The Broadcasting Tribunal announced in 1987 that TV3 had won the warrant. TV3 initially aimed to provide a regionally based television service, with linked studios based in each of the four areas (Auckland, Wellington, Waikato/BOP, and South Island).

There were numerous delays to the launch date of TV3. Litigation surrounded the granting of the warrant, as did the share market crash in October 1987, which wiped out a large proportion of the capital that TV3 required to establish the channel. The then Minister of Broadcasting, Richard Prebble, announced in late 1987 that much of the UHF spectrum in New Zealand was to be auctioned to allow for an increased number of television channels, resulting in a reduction in the value of TV3's warrant due to the increased competition. The drawn-out tribunal process of frequency allocation that TV3 had just won would be replaced by a bidding process that would allocate frequencies in weeks rather than months or even years.

These problems resulted in the ambitious regional plans being rationalised before being shelved completely. The network was to be based in Auckland with limited studios and news and sales teams in the other main centres.